Committee of any currently licensed vaccines on the basis of concerns about immune system dysfunction.

Research

Epidemiological Research

The committee recommends exploring the feasibility of using existing vaccine surveillance systems, alone or in combination, to study safety questions related to asthma and other important allergic disorders, as well as to study type 1 diabetes and other important autoimmune diseases.

The committee recommends exploring the use of cohorts for research on possible vaccine-related disease risks. Furthermore, the committee recommends that disease registries and research programs for autoimmune and allergic disorders routinely collect immunization histories as part of their study protocol.

Basic Science and Clinical Research

The committee recommends continued research on the development of the human infant immune system.

The committee endorses current research efforts aimed at identifying genetic variability in human immune system development and immune system responsiveness as a way to gain a better understanding of genetic susceptibility to vaccine-based adverse events.

The committee recommends exploring the feasibility of collecting data on surrogate markers for type I diabetes and clinical history of allergic diseases in the vaccine testing and licensing process.

The committee recommends exploring surrogates for type I diabetes and clinical history of allergic diseases in existing cohort studies of variations in the immunization schedule.

Communication

The committee recommends that an appropriate panel of multidisciplinary experts be convened by the Department of Health and Human Services. It would develop a comprehensive research strategy for knowledge leading to the optimal design and evaluation of vaccine risk-benefit communication approaches.

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